2,500 empty apartments in Salzburg city waiting to be revitalized

Vacant apartments in the city of Salzburg are to be used as residential properties in the future. After all, a shortage of supply inevitably leads to higher rents, which is particularly affecting the state capital. One lever is the much-discussed mobilization of vacant properties. Two studies presented on Tuesday are intended to help implement a strategy for more living space. “Vacancy is not a trivial offense,” said Salzburg’s deputy mayor Kay-Michael Dankl at a media event.

Why vacancy is difficult to define

A fundamental problem is that there is no uniform definition of vacant housing, says Inge Strassl from the Salzburg Institute for Spatial Planning and Housing (SIR). It is a “multifaceted phenomenon” and checking vacant apartments is therefore a difficult undertaking. The SIR carried out the study, which was created in 2022, using electricity meters and created an anonymized grid of Salzburg’s residential complexes using GIS data. If an annual electricity consumption of less than 200 kWh was determined, the apartment is considered unused or vacant. The approximately 3,600 apartments identified as a result correspond to a share of 3.5 percent of all apartments in the state capital. Because not all of them can be mobilized immediately due to renovations, stays abroad or other reasons, almost 2,500 apartments remain.

The vacancy covers the entire city area; no particular district was highlighted at the press conference. Larger long-term vacancies are found in condominiums built between 1960 and 1980, in densely built-up areas and in many two-family houses, but hardly at all in subsidized rental housing.

Second study examines under-use of living space

In addition, a second study on the topic of underuse of living space was published. For this purpose, registration and building data from 7,295 apartments were compared and interviews were conducted on site with residents.

The survey by the University of Salzburg found that such underused apartments also play a significant role in new commercial housing construction. A total of 407 apartments were empty and 2 percent were declared as secondary residences. According to the study author Andreas Van-Hametner, this does not allow conclusions to be drawn about the entire city, but one in ten apartments is not used as a primary residence. Incidentally, underused apartments in terms of time and space include second homes or often older people who live alone in a very large apartment.

According to the study, it is striking that the proportion of vacant properties and secondary residences increases when it comes to condominiums and commercially built apartments. According to the study, one in ten commercially built apartments in the city of Salzburg is empty.

New vacancy strategy being developed

The two studies are intended to help “collect all information and facets on the topic of vacancy and develop a strategy,” says Dankl. “We want to better understand the basics of the vacancy phenomenon and determine where vacancy predominates.”

24,000 addresses with question marks

One problem is the allocation of registration data in multi-storey buildings without top numbers. For another 24,000 addresses, it is also unclear whether anyone lives there at all. “The owner can only be found by looking in the land register, but there are no contact details there,” says Dankl, describing the hurdles, who also points to the “many exceptions to the vacancy tax.” Commercial property developers, for example, are exempt from it, as are inherited apartments. “We want to close some gaps in the law.” The aim is not “to fill up the municipal coffers, but to rent out urgently needed apartments,” emphasizes Dankl.

The project group will meet in September to look for incentives and develop a joint strategy. The proposal will be submitted to the state of Salzburg next year.

When does housing count as vacant and what are the exceptions?

Vacant apartments are those apartments where no resident is registered for more than 26 calendar weeks of the year.

Exceptions include apartments with structural defects that need to be renovated or cannot be made economically usable again, as well as apartments in single-family homes in which the owner has registered an apartment as their primary residence.

Second homes, holiday homes, council flats and commercially built flats are exempt from the vacancy tax. There may be one so-called provisional flat per child – this is valid until the child is 40 years old and no vacancy tax has to be paid until then.

The amount of the vacancy tax is between 400 euros for an apartment of less than 40 square meters and up to 5,000 euros for a new apartment of more than 220 square meters.

(Source: SALZBURG24)